


Blood Footprints

by eena



Category: Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter - Laurell K. Hamilton, Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: Crossover
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-04-03
Updated: 2006-04-03
Packaged: 2019-02-05 17:19:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,906
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12798849
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eena/pseuds/eena
Summary: Even monsters have hearts . . .





	Blood Footprints

**Author's Note:**

> Note from Haven, the archivist: This story was originally archived at [Fandom Haven Story Archive (FHSA)](http://fanlore.org/wiki/Fandom_Haven_Story_Archive), was scheduled to shut down at the end of 2016. To preserve the archive, I began working with the OTW to transfer the stories to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project in November 2017. If you are this creator and the work hasn't transferred to your AO3 account, please contact me using the e-mail address on [Fandom Haven Story Archive collection profile](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/fhsa/profile).

She came out of darkness, naked as the day she was born. Long white hair, eyes a colour green that I had never seen on a human before. It made me wonder if she was what she said she was, because she couldn't just be some girl like she claimed. No ordinary girl could have such a presence as hers. No ordinary girl could make the beast inside me rear up and want out, to revel in blood and flesh, to hunt freely as it was meant to. No ordinary girl could evoke such a response out an Ulfric.

 

She was no where near being ordinary.

 

She walks around Anita's place, inspecting this and that, smiling at the people as she passes them by. Why Anita harbours this girl is beyond me. Anita hates unexpected visitors even more than I do, and yet she tolerates this girl. Actually, more than tolerates her. Anita seems to like her, which in itself is very suspicious. Anita rarely likes anyone. Especially not mysterious young things who come off too sweet to be real. And yet, here we are. The girl was given free reign of Anita's house, even when there was another one of those shifter meetings Anita was prone to calling every now and then. I think we're supposed to be discussing the impending arrival of Belle Morte and her entourage. I don't think we were getting very far.

 

She walks by me, stopping to favour me with that half-smile of hers before moving on. Catching a whiff of her scent, I have to grip the arms of my chair in an attempt to restrain myself. She was just too enticing, and I'm not the only one who thought so. Several of my wolves watch her in the same way as I do, but they know better to act on it. I've made myself pretty clear on the matter of the mysterious white lady. If anyone was getting that girl into bed, it would be me.

 

Now, it's not like me to be so callous, or so presumptuous. I would never dream to lay a claim on anyone, not even Anita, the supposed on and off again love of my life. But her, I had set down the law with my pack, I made a claim I had no right to make. I wonder if she even knows how deep she is in this world. She plans to leave in a little while, or so I'm told. She has a home to go back to, something in Ohio I think. She's crazy to think that she'll ever leave this city. If I don't stop her, Jean-Claude will.

 

Whoever this Mr. Giles person is, he's not too bright if he sent this girl to do his talking for him. She's come to claim all the activated Slayers in our midst and play nice with all the Master Vampires she comes across. She's not the only one either, there's another one of these Neo-Watchers in New York and one in Chicago. They're all over the place, all over the world, spreading their good deeds all over the globe.

 

Okay, that sounded entirely more sarcastic than I intended it to be. But really, what were these people thinking? They sent her, and others like her, right into the lion's den. She was twenty-one, twenty-two tops, barely old enough to even drink legally in this lovely country of ours. Her eyes were too bright, her smile too large, and her spirit too cheerful for someone who was going to spend her life in the company of monsters.

 

And she's so optimistic. She doesn't even see the way we all lick our chops as she wanders around. Anita surely does, and she's constantly hovering around the girl. Wants to protect the little girl from all us monsters. I wonder when Anita forgot that she was one of us monsters.

 

But certainly, even Anita can't think that we're just going to let this little vixen walk out of this city whenever the mood strikes her. She's just too delicious. Jean-Claude was smitten with the little girl, only Anita's presence keeping him in check. And even that control was slipping every moment the vampire spent in her company. This "ordinary "girl drew more monsters to her than anyone I had ever seen in my life.

 

And I can't quite explain why that was. There was something there, no doubt, something just underneath her skin. She smelled like sugar and spice, like any good girl should, but the blood in her veins, that's was called all of us. You should see her face when she blushes, when all that blood underneath the skin becomes heated and stains her cheeks such a scarlet colour. I could smell her blood in times like that, I could almost taste it on the tip of my tongue.

 

I didn't like not having any control, which is exactly the situation I'm in. I can school myself into pretending like she doesn't have that affect on me, but it came with a heavy price. Beating back my beast every time she walked by, denying the wolf in me was taking its toll. Dreams of blood and sex filled my nights and sometimes it felt like the wolf was creeping into my waking world. I growled at a misbehaving student the other day. Really growled, as in I let my beast speak its irritation. The poor kid nearly peed his pants and shut up for the rest of the week.

 

Anita sees this, she can probably feel it. The marks are stronger than ever, and even though I'm doing my best to ignore them and her for most of the time, I know she can still sense me through them. She can tell when my minds drifts to this little white-haired girl in her home, and she doesn't like it one bit. Would it not raise too many eyebrows, I'm sure Anita would shut the girl up in her house and not let her out until her departure time left. As it was, Anita was trying to hurry the whole trip along. The Executioner took an entire week off work to help her locate all the new Slayers in the city. She wanted her out of St. Louis and fast, before the girl could fall into any trouble.

 

It was already too late for that.

 

I got up out of my seat, eyes locked on the lithe form making its way to Anita's kitchen. A quick glance to right showed that Anita was more than a little preoccupied with smacking Caleb over the head. The overly enthusiastic were leopard has just made another pass at Sylvie and Gwen, which was causing more than a little ruckus. Anita stood swatting at the laughing leopard while Micah busied himself apologizing profusely for his wayward pard member. I slipped away from the room without anyone noticing, except for my ever attentive bodyguards, who knew well enough to stay put and keep their mouths shut.

 

She stood at the kitchen counter, pouring herself some juice. She looked up at my entrance, that sweet smile gracing her features once more.

 

"Are they fighting again?" she asked, her tone still very cheerful. I only nodded, not having to say anything when a loud string of curses cut through the air. Her mouth formed a tiny `o' of shock as she listened to Sylvie rail against Caleb. I couldn't only shake my head in resignation. When was that boy going to learn?

 

"Wow. Are all your guys' meetings this much fun?"

 

I smirked and shrugged my shoulders. She turned her attention back to her juice, raising the jug in my direction. I shook my head at her silent offer and she turned to return the pitcher to the fridge. She seemed very at home in Anita's house, not even blinking when all kinds of shifters or vampires wandered in and out. It was like she was used to it, which again added to the case of her not being an `ordinary' girl.

 

"So, Mr. Wolf-Man, what can I do for you?"

 

"What makes you think that I want anything from you?"

 

"Because you're always watching me," she answered flippantly, not noticing my obvious shock. "Actually, almost everyone here is always watching me. But you the most, Jean-Claude being second. And that seems to be the main reason why Anita's designated herself my shadow. So tell me Ulfric, what can I do for you?"

 

"You notice much more than you let on."

 

She shrugged easily, walking around the counter and pulling out a chair before seating herself at the kitchen table. I followed, a quick look behind me letting me know that everyone else was still very distracted by the Caleb incident.

 

"It pays to notice things, especially considering what I do for a living," she continued, pausing to take a small sip of her juice. "We aren't called Watchers for nothing you know."

 

"Apparently not."

 

"You know, you guys aren't as sly as you think. Most of your wolves get all growl-y when I walk by. It's kind of nerve-wracking if you really want to know. Even Angel doesn't growl as much as you lot, and he goes through these horribly grumpy periods like ever three months. So, you going to tell me what you want yet?"

 

"What do you think?"

 

"I think it involves some naughty things that would normally make me blush. I wouldn't mind it, if you really wanted to know."

That raised my eyebrows quite a bit.

 

"But I'm thinking that you want something more than that. I'm thinking you're going into this possessive kind of mindset that I'm not equipped to handle. You guys here, you're more than a little scary, I'll give you that. But I can't get bogged down here. I have to go to Denver next. There are at least four girls there that I need to find and I'm going to find them."

 

"What if we don't let you leave?"

 

"Who's `we'? And why on earth do you think you could stop me?"

 

"Willow, you don't know who you're dealing with here-"

 

"I've dealt with worse-"

 

"No you haven't. I believe you when you say you've dealt with worse evil, but you haven't dealt with us before. We're not good, we're not bad, we're just monsters. We're that grey area that's just so dangerous to get lost in."

 

She looked me directly in the eye, green orbs hard set.

 

"I don't plan on getting lost."

 

"Most don't."

 

"If this is some sort weird St. Louis dating ritual? Because I know what you want, but this conversation is not getting you any closer to your goal."

 

I couldn't help but smile at that.

 

"Isn't it?"

 

"You're too cryptic. Anita never said you were this cryptic. Are you feeling okay?"

 

"You know I'm not letting you out of this city that easily, right?"

 

"I think you're putting too much faith in your ability. I'm not what you think Richard."

 

"I don't doubt that."

 

"This is going in circles."

 

"You noticed that too huh?"

 

"I'm leaving in three days."

 

"We'll see."

"That's it. No sex for you."

 

Just the way she said it was too cute. I couldn't help but laugh, the first actual laugh I've had in a long time. I winked at this marvelous white-haired girl in front of me.

 

"We'll see."


End file.
